


Spark of Hope

by Beth Harker (chiana606), chiana606



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: AU, Dragons, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-18
Updated: 2015-10-18
Packaged: 2018-04-26 23:05:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5024092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiana606/pseuds/Beth%20Harker, https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiana606/pseuds/chiana606
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU in which everything is the same, except Crutchie has a tiny dragon who follows him everywhere.  Set during the strike.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spark of Hope

There was a sense of anger and urgency among the Manhattan Newsboys this morning. It filled the air, exciting Sparks so that her fiery heart swelled with the desire to do something to help these boys, who had raised and protected her since she was nothing but a tiny egg.

“They can’t do this to us,” said one of the newsies, pumping his fist in the air.

“I’m barely making a living as is,” shouted another.

Sparks dug her talons tightly into Crutchie’s shoulder. She flapped her tiny wings, emitting a harmless plume of smoke against Crutchie’s ear. Crutchie reached up to scratch her soothingly under the chin.

“Calm down girl,” he whispered, and Sparks tried to, if only because the skin on Crutchie’s shoulder was bearing the brunt of her worries. “Jack’ll think of something. Even if he can’t, we still got each other.”

A new boy had started selling with the newsies recently. He was tall with a nervous face, and a little miniature human who accompanied him everywhere he went. This new boy was the first to propose a solution.

“We have a dragon,” he said, with a gesture towards Sparks and Crutchie. “That’s gotta count for something. What if we just explain to Pulitzer that…”

One of the boys laughed. Sparks shuffled back as far as Crutchie’s shoulder would allow, hiding her head against his neck.

“Sparks can’t make fire yet,” Jack explained. His voice was kind, the way it always was, but it didn’t stop Sparks from feeling ashamed.

“She can make smoke,” said Romeo. “Hey, I read somewheres that smoking’s bad for you. Some hotshot scientist even said so. So what do ya say we send Sparky into old man Pulitzer’s office and she can blow smoke in his face till…”

“Scientific mumbo jumbo,” one of the newsies interrupted.

“Smoking’s great,” said Race, taking a big drag on his cigar to demonstrate. “How do you losers all think I maintain my gorgeous complexion? A cigar a day, that’s what.”

“There has been some literature about the health risks of smoking,” said the new boy, with a face like he didn’t quite believe any of it, “but…”

That ‘but’ was enough to set all the newsboys off in an opinionated cacophony, each one of them shouting out their ideas with little regard for what the others thought, or for the real problem facing them today. One kid pointed out with some authority that cigarettes were pretty harmless, but the kind of smoke produced in house fires was just as likely to kill you as the fire itself. Another kid complained loudly that he'd lost his shoe. 

Sparks curled even further against Crutchie. The plumes of smoke billowing out from Race’s cigar were far more impressive than anything she could produce. Sparks had never felt so useless.

“Why’re we talking about house fires anyways?” asked one of the newsies, pumping his fist in the air. “Ain’t like it matters. We’se gonna be too poor to afford a roof over our heads soon, if the prices stay where they is.”

“What’s the point of having a dragon if we can’t even burn down the World,” asked Buttons, casting a sullen look over in Sparks’ direction. There wasn’t any meanness in his voice, just disappointment. Sparks tried to make fire then, to show them that she could be helpful, but nothing came out, not even the tiniest bit of smoke. Smoke wasn’t something that she could control or do on command. It just happened sometimes.

All eyes were on her now, watching as she huffed and puffed and shuffled against Crutchie’s shoulder, little growling noises escaping her throat, but not much else. She stopped when Crutchie reached up to run his hand down her back. His palm was big enough to cover her body if he wanted it to, and she felt keenly just how small she was compared to everyone else.

“Hey,” said Jack. “Could you all shut the hell up about Sparks? So what if she can’t make fire. Ain’t any of us can make fire neither.”

Race took out a book of matches at that, but a good shove from Jack was more than enough to make him get the message.

“Forget about the dragon,” the new boy said, then he sort of blushed, like he wasn’t sure if he had said quite the right thing. “I mean, don’t forget about the dragon,” he amended. “She’s a great dragon, but we gotta work together and find a better way to beat this.”

The new boy’s voice had dipped quieter by the time he finished his sentence, but for some reason the boys were listening to him anyway.

“Alright Davey,” said Jack. “Tell us how we’re gonna beat this.”

———

The days that followed were some of the most interesting that Sparks had ever experienced, and maybe even some of the most inspiring. She watched as the Manhattan Newsies banded together, not just as a family, but as a union, bent on taking down the World if it was the last thing they did. It was impossible not to get swept up in the excitement, and the support of their cause.

Sparks tried to help in ways that she could, but nobody listened to her much, aside from Crutchie. In fact, nobody else could understand her dragon language, though Jack tried harder than most, and the pretty lady reporter who joined their cause seemed to have a knack for it compared to most humans.

It was on the day of the Newsies’ first great battle that Sparks discovered her true power.

The newsies were good boys, but one fact that Sparks had learned about human creatures in her short life was that there were a lot of bad people out there as well. The pair of boys who attacked Crutchie and stole his crutch were some of the worst that Sparks had ever encountered.

At first Sparks could only cower with fear as one of the bad boys raised Crutchie’s crutch high above his head, and then brought it down upon her friend’s body in a sickening blow that made him cry out, and her tremble all over. Something happened, however, as the boy was gearing up for the second hit. Sparks’ fear turned into anger, and her anger turned quickly into red hot fury that ignited her veins and then came pouring out of her mouth in a stream of flame, the first she had ever produced.

Sparks flapped her wings and darted up towards the bad boys, who were already turning to run. She thought of flames engulfing them, and roasting them until they died.

This did not happen.

One of the boys’ hats caught on fire, and he threw it to the ground, crying like a baby as he ran off with the other following close behind him.

Sparks landed on the dirt beside Crutchie, who was still curled up in pain, and maybe fear as well. She whined, and nuzzled her nose against his hair.

That’s when Jack came bounding over. He put his hand on Crutchies’ shoulder, and helped him into a sitting position.

“Crutch?” He said, his voice nearly cracking with worry. “Crutch? Hey Crutchie, you okay there? Can you talk at all?”

Suddenly Crutchie smiled, the grin spreading wide across his face. “Didja see what Sparks did there,” he asked.

Jack barked out a laugh, pulling Crutchie close for a quick hug. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah. I saw. She’s some dragon, ain’t she?”

“She’s the best dragon there ever was,” said Crutchie, as Jack helped him to his feet.

Sparks' chest puffed out with pride, and she flew around her two friends’ in a gleeful circle.

“You see that?” Crutchie asked, as Jack helped him walk to the restaurant where the other newsies were waiting. “We’re gonna win this strike. I’m sure of it! Ain’t nobody gonna beat us, not when we got folks like Sparks fighting on our side.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to read more of my Newsies fic, go here: http://david-jacobs-would.tumblr.com/post/125939888514/masterlist-of-newsies-fan-fiction-by


End file.
